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Subject: Governance

Important aspects of Society

  • Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP)

    The government is planning a new car assessment programme (NCAP) in India, to be called the Bharat NCAP or BNCAP.

    What is Bharat NCAP?

    • Bharat NCAP is a new car safety assessment programme which proposes a mechanism of awarding ‘Star Ratings’ to automobiles based upon their performance in crash tests.
    • BNCAP standard is aligned with global benchmarks and it is beyond minimum regulatory requirements.
    • The proposed Bharat NCAP assessment will allocate Star Ratings from 1 to 5 stars.
    • The testing of vehicles for this programme will be carried out at testing agencies, with the necessary infrastructure.

    Its implementation

    • BNCAP will be rolled out from April 1, 2023.
    • It will be applicable on type-approved motor vehicles of category M1 with gross vehicle weight less than 3.5 tonnes, manufactured or imported in the country.
    • M1 category motor vehicles are used for the carriage of passengers, comprising eight seats, in addition to driver’s seat.

    Significance of Bharat NCAP

    • BNCAP rating will provide consumers an indication of the level of protection offered to occupants by evaluating the vehicle in the areas of:
    1. Adult occupant protection
    2. Child occupant protection
    3. Safety assist technologies
    • It will serve as a consumer-centric platform, allowing customers to opt for safer cars based upon their Star-Ratings.
    • It will also promote a healthy competition among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India to manufacture safer vehicles.
    • It will ensure structural and passenger safety in cars, along with increasing the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.
    • It will prove to be a critical instrument in making our automobile industry Aatmanirbhar.

    Why does India need to crash-test vehicles?

    • Indian vehicles have historically not been crash-tested in the country.
    • Despite being home to only 1% of the world’s vehicles, India shoulders 11% of the global road crash fatality burden.

    What about existing testing standards?

    • India’s Central Motor Vehicle Rules (CMVR) mandate a safety and performance assessment, including a basic conformity crash test by agencies like the ARAI and ICAT when vehicles go in for type approvals.
    • However, this does not involve a crash test rating.
    • Many international automakers have been found to sell products in India which score much lower on safety and structural performance parameters.
    • This is done to reduce costs in the price-sensitive Indian market.
    • However, safety is moving up nowadays the list of key purchase criteria in India as well.

    How will a homegrown NCAP help?

    • Global NCAP (GNCAP) crash tests for many best-selling Indian vehicles have dismal ratings, many of them rated zero in a bias.
    • The government hopes that by facilitating these tests by in-house agencies, more automakers will voluntarily undergo safety assessments and build vehicles that hold up to global standards.

    How will it compare with GNCAP?

    • The government wants the two tests to be in congruence with each other.
    • It intends to design the BNCAP to resemble the GNCAP, the global gold standard, as closely as possible, including the speed for crash testing at 64kmph.
    • Central Motor Vehicle rules encompass standards with respect to pedestrian protection and seat belt reminders among others and will be retained in the testing under the BNCAP.
    • The government hopes the move will increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.

     

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  • Road Safety in India

    The United Nations is holding a high-level meeting on Global Road Safety on June 30 and July 1, 2022 to review the progress and challenges.

    Road Accidents in India: A lookover

    • In spite of several years of policymaking to improve road safety, India remains among the worst-performing countries in this area.
    • Total 1,47,913 lives lost to road traffic accidents in 2017 as per Ministry of Road Transport and Highways statistics.
    • The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figure for the same year is 1,50,093 road accident deaths.

    Why in news?

    • The persistently high annual death toll brings into question the country’s ability to meet Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3.6.
    • This aims to halve the fatalities and injuries from road traffic accidents by 2030.

    Lancet’s findings on road safety

    • A new analytical series on road safety worldwide, published by The Lancet, proposes that India and other countries could cut accident-related deaths by 25 to 40%.
    • This is based on evidence that preventive interventions produce good outcomes when applied to four well-known risk factors:
    1. High speed
    2. Driving under the influence of alcohol
    3. Not using proper helmets
    4. Not wearing seat-belts and not using child restraints

    Issues highlighted in developing countries

    • The structural problems linked to unplanned motorisation and urbanisation remain.
    • In India, speedy highway construction takes place without reconciling fast and slow-moving traffic.
    • There is a rampant presence of ramshackle vehicles, wrong-side driving, absence of adequate traffic police forces etc.

    Why are there so many road fatalities in India alone?

    • Weak enforcement of traffic laws: People hardly oblige to traffic rules and find easier to bribe policemen rather than paying hefty challans.
    • Speeding issue: More accidents on the highways have been attributed to higher vehicle speeds and higher volume of traffic on these roads.
    • Engineering bottlenecks: Issues such as gaps in the median on the national highways, untreated intersections, and missing crash barriers are some of the biggest engineering issues.
    • Behavioural issue: Driver violations such as wrong-side driving, wrong lane usage by heavy vehicles, and mass violation of traffic lights, intoxication are the biggest behavioural issues.
    • Lack of Golden hour treatment: Lack of rapid trauma care on highways leads to such high fatalities.

    Various steps taken by India

    • India amended Motor Vehicles Act in 2019, but its implementation by State governments is not uniform or complete.
    • A National Road Safety Board was constituted under the Act, with advisory powers to reform safety.
    • The World Bank has approved a $250 million loan to support for India State Support Programme for Road Safety.

    Issues with implementation

    • The focus of State governments, however, remains conventional, with an emphasis on user behaviour (drivers and other road users), education and uneven enforcement.
    • Low emphasis is placed on structural change such as raising engineering standards for roads, signages, signals, training for scientific accident investigation, raising policing skills and fixing responsibility on government departments for design, creation and maintenance of road infrastructure.

    What can be done to cut death and injury rates?

    • The ambitious amendments to the Motor Vehicles Act in 2019 (MV Act) have not yielded significant results.
    • Major interventions in India, first suggested by the Sundar Committee (2007) and ordered by the Supreme Court in Rajasekaran vs Union of India have not made a dent in the problem.

    Key findings of Sundar Committee

    • The Sundar Committee pointed out that India lacked a technically competent investigation arm that could determine the cause of accidents.
    • There is little clarity on whether the States have formed such units to aid traffic investigation, or whether the insurance industry has pressed for these to accurately determine fault.
    • In the absence of scientific investigation, perceptions usually guide the fixing of liability.

    Solutions provided by the Lancet

    • The Lancet calculated that 17% of road traffic injury-related deaths could be avoided if trauma care facilities improved.
    • This is significant as several accidents take place in rural areas on highways, and victims are taken to poorly-equipped district hospitals or medical college hospitals.
    • While positive user behaviour — slower travel, wearing of helmets, seat belts and so on — could save thousands of lives.
    • In the short term, slowing down traffic, particularly near habitations, segregating slower vehicles, enforcing seat belt and helmet use and cracking down on drunken drivers could produce measurable gains.

    Imbibing road safety: Way forward

    • Road safety education
    • Better road design, maintenance and warning signage
    • Crackdown on driving under influence of alcohol and drugs
    • Strict enforcement of traffic rules
    • Encouraging better road behaviour
    • Ensuring road worthiness of a vehicle
    • Better first aid and paramedic care

    Do you know?

    The ‘golden hour’ has been defined as ‘the time period lasting one hour following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care.

     

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  • India State Support Programme for Road Safety

    The World Bank has approved a $250 million loan to support the Government of India’s road safety programme for seven States.

    Programme for Road Safety

    • Under this, a single accident reporting number will be set up to better manage post-crash events.
    • It will be implemented in the States of Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.
    • The $250 million variable spread loan from the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) has a maturity of 18 years, with a grace period of 5.5 years.
    • The project will also establish a national harmonised crash database system in order to analyse accidents and use that to construct better and safer roads.
    • The project will also provide incentives to States to leverage private funding through public private partnership (PPP) concessions and pilot initiatives.

    Road accidents in India: Key takeaways

    • The report ‘Road Accidents in India 2020’ released by the Union ministry of road transport and highways (MoRTH) provides for key stats.
    • India has only 1% of the world’s vehicles but 11% of the global deaths from road accidents occur in India.
    • About 450,000 accidents take place in India annually, of which 150,000 people die.
    • There are 53 road accidents in the country every hour and one death every four minutes.

    Why are there so many road fatalities in India alone?

    • Weak enforcement of traffic laws: People hardly oblige to traffic rules and find easier to bribe policemen rather than paying hefty challans.
    • Speeding issue: More accidents on the highways have been attributed to higher vehicle speeds and higher volume of traffic on these roads.
    • Engineering bottlenecks: Issues such as gaps in the median on the national highways, untreated intersections, and missing crash barriers are some of the biggest engineering issues.
    • Behavioural issue: Driver violations such as wrong-side driving, wrong lane usage by heavy vehicles, and mass violation of traffic lights, intoxication are the biggest behavioural issues.
    • Lack of Golden hour treatment: Lack of rapid trauma care on highways leads to such high fatalities.

    Imbibing road safety: Way forward

    • Road safety education
    • Better road design, maintenance and warning signage
    • Crackdown on driving under influence of alcohol and drugs
    • Strict enforcement of traffic rules
    • Encouraging better road behaviour
    • Ensuring road worthiness of a vehicle
    • Better first aid and paramedic care

    Do you know?

    The ‘golden hour’ has been defined as ‘the time period lasting one hour following a traumatic injury during which there is the highest likelihood of preventing death by providing prompt medical care.

     

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  • Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D)

    The Ministry of Education has released the Performance Grading Index for Districts (PGI-D) for 2019 which studied 83 indicators grouped in six categories.

    What is PGI-D?

    • The 83-indicator-based PGI for District (PGI-D) has been designed to grade the performance of all districts in school education.
    • The data is filled by districts through an online portal.
    • The indicator-wise PGI score shows the areas where a district needs to improve.
    • The PGI-D structure comprises a total weightage of 600 points across 83 indicators.
    • They are grouped under 6 categories, viz., Outcomes, Effective Classroom Transaction, Infrastructure Facilities & Students’ Entitlements, School Safety & Child Protection, Digital Learning, and Governance Process.
    • These categories are outcomes, effective classroom transaction, infrastructure facilities and student’s entitlements, school safety and child protection, digital learning and governance process.

    How does the grading scale works?

    • The PGI-D grades the districts into 10 grades with the highest achievable grade being ‘Daksh’, which is for districts scoring more than 90% of the total points in that category or overall.
    • ‘Utkarsh’ category is for districts with score between 81-90%, followed by ‘Ati-Uttam’ (71-80%), ‘Uttam’ (61-70%), ‘Prachesta-I’ (51-60%), ‘Prachesta-II’ (41-50%) and ‘Pracheshta III’ (31-40%).
    • The lowest grade in PGI-D is called ‘Akanshi-3’ which is for scores up to 10% of the total points.

    Performance of the states

    • Rajasthan’s Sikar is the top performer, followed by Jhunjhunu and Jaipur.
    • The other States whose districts have performed best are Punjab with 14 districts in ‘Ati-uttam’ grade (scoring 71-80% on a scale of 100).
    • It followed by Gujarat and Kerala with each having 13 districts in this category.
    • However, there are 12 States and UTs which do not have even a single district in the ‘Ati-uttam’ and ‘Uttam’ categories and these include seven of the eight States from the North East region.

    Significance

    • The PGI-D will reflect the relative performance of all the districts on a uniform scale which encourages them to perform better.
    • It is expected to help the state education departments to identify gaps at the district level and improve their performance in a decentralized manner.

     

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  • Issues with use of NMMS app in NREGA

    Context

    The National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) app seeks to improve citizen oversight and increase transparency in NREGA works. This causes significant difficulty for NREGA workers.

    About NMMS app

    • National Mobile Monitoring Software (NMMS) App  was launched by the Minister of Rural Development on May, 21 2021.
    • The National Mobile Monitoring App is applicable for the Mahatma Gandhi NREGA workers for all the States/ Union Territories.
    • This app is aimed at bringing more transparency and ensure proper monitoring of the schemes.
    •  The main feature of the app is the real-time, photographed, geo-tagged attendance of every worker to be taken once in each half of the day. 
    • The app helps in increasing citizen oversight of the programme.

    Issues with the use of the app

    • While such an app may be useful in monitoring the attendance of workers who have fixed work timings, in most States, NREGA wages are calculated based on the amount of work done each day, and workers do not need to commit to fixed hours.
    • Disproportionately affects women: NREGA has historically had a higher proportion of women workers (54.7% in FY 2021-22) and has been pivotal in changing working conditions for women in rural areas.
    • Due to the traditional burden of household chores and care work on women, the app is likely to disproportionately affect women workers.
    • Lack of stable network: There are challenges of implementation with the NMMS as well.
    • A stable network is a must for real-time monitoring; unfortunately, it remains patchy in much of rural India.
    • NREGA Mates impacted: The app has adversely impacted NREGA Mates as well.
    • The role of a Mate was conceptualised as an opportunity to empower local women to manage attendance and work measurement in their panchayat.
    • To be a Mate, one needs to have a smartphone.
    • This new condition disqualifies thousands of women who do not own smartphones from becoming Mates.
    • Erosion of transparency:  The app claims to “increase citizen oversight” by “bringing more transparency and ensuring proper monitoring of the schemes, besides potentially enabling processing payments faster”.
    • With no physical attendance records signed by workers anymore, workers have no proof of their attendance and work done.
    • No clarity provided on corruption: While ostensibly the NMMS’s focus on real-time, geo-tagged attendance could be one way of addressing this corruption, the MoRD has not provided much clarity on either the magnitude of this corruption or the manner in which the NMMS addresses it.
    • No parameters: There are no parameters established to assess the app’s performance, either on transparency, or on quicker processed payments.

    Way forward

    • Social audits: Social audits are citizen-centric institutions, where the citizens of the panchayat have a direct role and say in how NREGA functions in their panchayat.
    • Audits have worked well in the past, allowing the local rights holders to be invested in decisions, and hold the administration accountable themselves.

    Conclusion

    The NMMS has very clear problems that will make it increasingly difficult for workers to continue working under NREGA, eroding the right to work that underwrites the NREGA Act.

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  • Parameswaran Iyer will be new NITI Aayog CEO

    Parameswaran Iyer, a senior official who helmed the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, will be the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the NITI Aayog.

    What is the news?

    • Iyer replaces Amitabh Kant, who completes his term in the office on June 30.
    • Kant was appointed CEO of the National Institutions for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog on February 17, 2016, for two years.
    • He got three extensions during his tenure.

    Do you know?

    Under Mr. Kant, the NITI Aayog helped the Centre launch several programmes such as Digital India and Make in India.

    What is NITI Aayog?

    • The NITI Aayog serves as the apex public policy think tank of the GoI.
    • It was established in 2015, by the NDA government, to replace the Planning Commission which followed a top-down model.
    • It advises both the centre and states on social and economic issues.
    • It is neither a constitutional body nor a statutory body but the outcome of an executive resolution. It was not created by the act of parliament.

    Composition of NITI Aayog

    • The Prime Minister of India is the chairperson/chairman of the NITI Aayog.
    • The PM appoints one Vice-Chairperson, who holds the rank of a cabinet minister.
    • It includes the Chief Ministers of all the states and Union territories.
    • It has Regional Councils for looking after contingencies in regional areas. It is convened and chaired by the Prime Minister of India and includes concerned chief ministers and Lt. Governors.
    • The Prime Minister nominates Personalities with skilled knowledge, who are experts in particular domains as special invitees.
    • There are full-time members who hold the rank of ministers.
    • There is a maximum of two Part-time members who are invited from leading organisations, universities, and research centres.
    • The Prime Minister also appoints one Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who holds the rank of a Secretary.

    Aims, Agenda, and Objectives of NITI Aayog

    The purpose with which NITI Aayog was formed in place of the Planning Commission was a far-sighted vision. It was important to boost the development of India in the emerging global scenario. The objectives are:

    • To generate a platform for national development, sectors and strategies with the collaboration of states and centre.
    • To boost the factor of cooperative federalism between the centre and the states. For national development, it is necessary for both wings to work in synergy.
    • To develop such mechanisms which work at the ground root level for progressive growth. A nation develops when its regions and states develop.
    • To work on long term policies and strategies for long-term development. To set up a system for monitoring progress so that it can be used for analysing and improving methods.
    • To provide a platform for resolving inter-departmental issues amicably.
    • To make it a platform where the programmes, strategies, and schemes can be monitored on a day to day basis, and it could be understood which sector needs more resources to develop.
    • To upgrade technological advancements in such a manner that focus can be made on iNITIatives and programmes.
    • To ensure India’s level and ranking at the worldwide level and to make India an actively participating nation.
    • To progress from food security towards nutrition and standardised meals and focus on agricultural production.
    • To make use of more technology to avoid misadventures and corruption in governance.
    • To make the working system more transparent and accountable.

    NITI Aayog – Seven Pillars of Effective Governance

    • NITI Aayog works on principles like Antyodaya (upliftment of poor), inclusion (to include all sections under one head), people participation, and so on.
    • NITI Aayog is a body that follows seven pillars of governance. They are:
    1. To look after pro-people agenda so that the aspirations and desires of no one are compromised.
    2. To respond and work on the needs of citizens.
    3. Make citizens of the nation involve and participate in various streams.
    4. To empower women in all fields, be it social, technical, economic, or other.
    5. To include all sects and classes under one head. To give special attention to marginalised and minority groups.
    6. To provide equal opportunity for the young generation.
    7. To make the working of government more accountable and transparent. It will ensure less chance of corruption and malpractices.

     

    Try this PYQ from CSP 2019:

    In India, which of the following review the independent regulators in sectors like telecommunications, insurance, electricity, etc.?

    1. Ad Hoc Committees set up by the Parliament
    2. Parliamentary Department Related Standing Committees
    3. Finance Commission
    4. Financial Sector Legislative Reforms Commission
    5. NITI Aayog

    Select the correct answer using the code given below:

    (a) 1 and 2

    (b) 1, 3 and 4

    (c) 3, 4 and 5

    (d) 2 and 5

     

    [wpdiscuz-feedback id=”42v0aebojc” question=”Please leave a feedback on this” opened=”1″]Post your answer here.[/wpdiscuz-feedback]

     

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  • The job puzzle

    Context

    The government has assured the creation of one million jobs over the next one-and-a-half years. This may be optimistic, but if it does materialise, the employment landscape will change dramatically.

    Background

    • What is the unemployment rate? Expressed in percentage, the unemployment rate is defined as the share of people who are without any job.
    • Joblessness in the country essentially relates to educated young adults seeking jobs in the formal economy.
    • The government recently announced it would recruit 10 lakh people in “mission mode” over the next one-and-a-half years.
    • The announcement came at a time when the unemployment rate for youth (aged 15-29 years) in urban areas has been hovering at over 20 per cent for the last several quarters.

    What is the employment situation in India today?

    • If jobs are being created on a progressive basis, there will be an increase in income generation, which in turn, should spur consumption.
    • Therefore, if consumption picks up – this can be indicated by the growth in the consumer goods segments — then one can be confident of jobs being created.
    • What is the situation in India? Consumer durable goods have been registering negative or slightly positive growth for the last five years or so — this is a reflection of the purchasing power of the people that ultimately can be linked to job creation.
    • There have been talks of start-up economy in the country and their achievements.
    • Interestingly, it is a well-known fact that, globally, 80-85 per cent of start-ups fold up in the first couple of years mainly due to non-viable models that fail the scaling-up challenge.
    • Therefore, while start-ups sound exciting, job creation at scale cannot be part of these experiments, unless there is an assured flow of funds.

    Challenge in recruiting 10 lakh people

    • It will be a really big task given that presently the central government offices house around 3.45 million personnel as per the budget for 2022-23.
    • Short time frame: The first challenge is in recruiting such a large number in this short period of time considering that there are fairly lengthy processes involved in hiring people to government departments.
    • Finding meaningful role: Hiring such a number is good for the country, but finding meaningful roles for them in various departments needs to be seriously examined.
    • Quite clearly, plans need to be in place to provide work to this set of new employees.
    • Increase in cost for the government: The third issue that would have to be kept in mind is the increase in cost for the government.
    • As per the budget for 2022-23, the average outgo per employee was around Rs 12.20 lakh.
    • Assuming the new set earns half of the existing average, the additional cost would be at least Rs 60,000 crore.
    • The salary outlay for the year was Rs 4.22 lakh crore.
    • These provisions would have to be made in subsequent budgets.

    Conclusion

    The overall unemployment picture looks complex today. While the government’s intent to add over a million jobs in the next 18 months is laudable, the task is audacious and challenging from both an administrative and financial point of view.

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  • Enemy Property in India

    The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) has registered some cases on allegations that huge losses to the exchequer was caused by leasing out prime-value land under the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI) on forged documents.

    Why in news?

    • Hectares of commercial land located in Uttar Pradesh were leased out at nominal rates in favour of the lessees through manipulation.

    What is “Enemy Property”?

    • In the wake of the India-Pakistan wars of 1965 and 1971, there was the migration of people from India to Pakistan.
    • Under the Defence of India Rules framed under The Defence of India Act, 1962, the Government of India took over the properties and companies of those who took Pakistani nationality.
    • These “enemy properties” were vested by the central government in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India.
    • The same was done for property left behind by those who went to China after the 1962 Sino-Indian war.
    • The Tashkent Declaration of January 10, 1966 included a clause that said India and Pakistan would discuss the return of the property and assets taken over by either side in connection with the conflict.
    • However, the Government of Pakistan disposed of all such properties in their country in the year 1971 itself.

    Dealing with enemy property

    • The Enemy Property Act, enacted in 1968, provided for the continuous vesting of enemy property in the Custodian of Enemy Property for India (CEPI).
    • The central government, through the Custodian, is in possession of enemy properties spread across many states in the country.
    • Some movable properties too, are categorised as enemy properties.
    • In 2017, Parliament passed The Enemy Property (Amendment and Validation) Bill, 2016, which amended The Enemy Property Act, 1968, and The Public Premises (Eviction of Unauthorised Occupants) Act, 1971.

     

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  • Extending the Aspirational District Programme (ADP)

    The PM has hoped to extend the Aspirational District Programme (ADP) to block and city levels.

    Aspirational Districts Programme (ADP)

    • Launched in January 2018, the ‘Transformation of Aspirational Districts’ initiative aims to remove this heterogeneity through a mass movement to quickly and effectively transform these districts.
    • The broad contours of the program are Convergence (of Central & State Schemes), Collaboration (of Central, State level ‘Prabhari’ Officers & District Collectors), and Competition among districts driven by a spirit of mass Movement.
    • With States as the main drivers, this program will focus on the strength of each district, identify low-hanging fruits for immediate improvement, measure progress, and rank districts.

    Behind the name

    • PM then negated the idea of naming any scheme based on their backwardness.
    • Rather the name ‘Aspirational’ presents a more affirmative action-based execution of the scheme.

    Selection of districts

    • A total of 117 Aspirational districts have been identified by NITI Aayog based upon composite indicators.
    • The objective of the program is to monitor the real-time progress of aspirational districts based on 49 indicators (81 data points) from the 5 identified thematic areas.

    Weightage has been accorded to these districts as below:

    • Health & Nutrition (30%)
    • Education (30%)
    • Agriculture & Water Resources (20%)
    • Financial Inclusion & Skill Development (10%)
    • Basic Infrastructure (10%)

    Strategy of the ADP

    The core Strategy of the program may be summarized as follows.

    • Making development a mass movement in these districts
    • Identify low hanging fruits and the strength of each district, to act as a catalyst
    • for development.
    • Measure progress and rank districts to spur a sense of competition.
    • Districts shall aspire to become State’s best to Nation’s best.

    Features of the ADP

    • It has transformed into a Jan Andolan.
    • The ADP is different in trying to monitor the improvement of these districts through real-time data tracking.
    • The programme seeks to develop convergence between selected existing central and state government programmes.
    • District performance in the public domain and experience building of the district bureaucracy is another notable feature.
    • The programme is targeted, not towards any single group of beneficiaries, but rather towards the population of the district as a whole.

    What makes this program special?

    The program reflects what has become of the development project in India under neoliberalism, especially after the end of planning.

    • Long overdue sectors have been given more emphasis.
    • It is not a tailor-made program with one-size-fit strategy. More onus has been laid on the districts. It has a district-intervention strategy.
    • It works on the principle of SWOT (strength, weakness, opportunity and threats) model and comparison with national best parameters for effective resource management.
    • It is the most reviewed programme by the Prime Minister.
    • A general idea behind the idea is that a good work never goes un-noticed. It is duly appreciated on social media as well as by the officials.

    Programmatic Strengths

    • A key strength of the ADP is the collection of baseline data and follow-ups at regular intervals.
    • Sustaining this effort would create a robust compilation of statistics for use by both researchers and policy-makers.
    • In doing this, the government also brings much-needed attention to human development and a willingness to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
    • Incremental progress being made in the chosen districts as reflected in the rankings.
    • The programme also claims to be “non-partisan and unbiased” and geared towards all-India growth.
    • The selection of districts indeed suggests that the programme has not favored any bias either regional, political or any other.
    • The programme seeks convergence of central and state schemes anchored around specific activities.

    Issues with the programme

    • Using the case of Bihar, they argue that the programmes selection of districts itself is problematic.
    • In fact, it actually excludes the most backward districts because per capita income, the most basic measure of development, has not been considered.
    • There seems to be some ambiguity around the issue of whether the programme is concerned only with improved access or also with the quality of service provided.
    • The indicators used are not defined relationally, rather they are static human development indicators that do not see people mired in dynamic social relations.
    • It is also accused that the state is not making any new or focused public investment (except for possible use of Flexi-funds) into these districts, on the other hand, it is moralizing about their inability to improve (through rankings).
    • The programme is carrying the burden of proving the government’s “developmental” work without addressing any of the fundamental issues around achieving equitable development.
    • Yet, the NITI Aayog justifies the overall approach as capitalizing on “low-hanging fruit.”

    Way forward

    • The program has been able to make difference in the lives of citizens of India, in education, health, nutrition, financial inclusion, skill development and this has made a difference to some most backward and most geographically far-flung districts of the nation.
    • ADP is ‘aligned to the principle of “leave no one behind—the vital core of the SDGs. Political commitment at the highest level has resulted in the rapid success of the program the report said.
    • UNDP has recommended revising a few indicators that are slightly close to reaching their saturation or met by most districts like ‘electrification of households’ as an indicator of basic infrastructure.

     

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  • Child Marriage in India

    Context

    There has been an ongoing debate on whether increasing the age of marriages can solve the problem of child marriage in India.

    Background

    • It is defined as a marriage of a girl or boy before the age of 18 and refers to both formal marriages and informal unions in which children under the age of 18 live with a partner as if married.
    • The Prohibition of Child Marriage (Amendment) Bill, 2021, fixes 21 years as the marriageable age for women.

    Prevalence of child marriage in India

    •  NFHS-5 data show that about 25% of women aged 18-29 years married before the legal marriageable age of 18.
    • Marginal decline: The proportion has declined only marginally from NFHS-4 (28%).
    • Higher in rural India: Expectedly, the prevalence is higher in rural than urban India (28% and 17%, respectively).
    • West Bengal has the highest prevalence (42%), followed by Bihar and Tripura (40% each).
    • Oddly, the decline in child marriage has been paltry at best in these high-prevalence States.
    • At the other end of the spectrum are Goa, Himachal Pradesh and Kerala (6% to 7%).
    • 39% of child marriages in India take place among Adivasis and Dalits.
    • The share of advantaged social groups is 17% and the remaining share is of Other Backward Classes.

    Role of structural issues in adverse health and educational outcomes

    • Impact: Studies associate early marriage of women with early pregnancy, lower likelihood of accessing ante-natal care, higher risks of maternal morbidity and mortality, poor nutritional status of women and poor nutritional and educational outcomes of children.
    • These studies seem to provide a rather compelling case for increasing the age of marriage of women from 18 to 21 years, as a delayed marriage might offer significant public health dividends.
    • Structural factors at play: But a closer reading of the evidence shows that the association between child marriage and adverse health outcomes does not emerge in a vacuum. 
    • Rather, it is abetted by structural factors, including social norms, poverty, and women’s education.
    • Role of social norms: It is because of social norms in many regions and cultures that parents begin preparations for a girl’s marriage once she has reached menarche.
    • Role of poverty: A large proportion of child marriages take place primarily because of poverty and the burden of the huge costs of dowry associated with delayed marriages.
    • Role of education:  The NHFS-5 data confirm that a significant proportion of child marriages takes place among women with less than 12 years of schooling and households that are socially and economically disadvantaged.
    • The average age at marriage increases from 17 years among women who are illiterate and have had up to five years of schooling to 22 years among women who have had more than 12 years of schooling.
    • This indicates that an increase in years of schooling goes hand in hand with an increase in age at marriage.
    • While an increase in education is most likely to delay marriage, the increase in age at marriage may or may not increase women’s education.

    Why the age of marriage of women matters

    • Age of marriage has bearing on maternal mortality rates, fertility levels, nutrition of mother and child, sex ratios, and, on a different register, education and employment opportunities for women.
    • It is also argued that other factors — such as poverty and health services — were far more effective as levers for improving women’s and children’s health and nutritional status.
    • Child marriage curtail a girl’s opportunities to continue her education.
    • And in turn, the lack of educational opportunities plays an important role in facilitating child marriage.

    Way forward

    • The fact that about one-fourth of women (18-29 years) in India have married before 18 years despite the law tells us that legally increasing the age of marriage may not fully prevent child marriages. 
    • 1] Ensure education for at least up to 12 years: Much of the benefits can be reaped by ensuring that women complete education at least up to 12 years.
    • Bangladesh shows that improving women’s education and imparting modern skills to them that increase their employability reduces child marriage and improves health and nutrition.
    • 2] Educational attainment criteria in schemes: Schemes which ease the financial burden of marriage but the eligibility criteria of which should essentially link to educational attainment in addition to age demand attention.
    • The lessons from Janani Suraksha Yojana and the zeal demonstrated in ending open defecation might provide valid insights here.

    Conclusion

    A legalistic approach to increasing the age at marriage will produce positive results only if it leads to an improvement in women’s education and skill acquisition for employability. In the absence of an enhancement in women’s schooling or skills, a legalistic approach to ending child marriage might become counterproductive.

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